Monday, June 25, 2007

XSL Transformations and Client Side Calculations

In a recent edition of Dr. Dobb's Journal (May 2007) a couple of programmers from Turkey explain how to do client side mathematical calculations using XIM and XSLT transformations. This, they explain, is a way to offload some processing to the client side computer.

Yes, this all sounds lovely but I'm sure that most smart e-commerce programmers would instantly recognize that you should not leave any important calculations to the client side of the e-commerce process where it can be manipulated, either by the end user, or by a hacker that has infected his or her machine.

I was going to note that I've always had a somewhat significant amount of traffic from Turkey, by the way, which I find odd given what I am hosting.

Programmer beware - don't jump on everything you read as the next best thing. Consider the pros, cons and appropriate usages of each new technology option. And if you are not entirely sure how it works within your application framework, best check that out before rushing to implementation.